AIARC Benefits Guides

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2015 AIARC Calendar

The following are bank holidays in the United States. AIARC’s office is normally closed on these days.

25 May

Memorial Dayy

4 July

Independence Day

7 September

Labor Day

Emergency Medical Evacuation

If you are enrolled in the IARC Medical Plan, you and your respective dependents are covered for emergency medical evacuation through United Healthcare Global. This benefit excludes participants who are enrolled in bridging and retiree medical insurance.

If you sustain an injury or suffer a sudden and unexpected illness and adequate medical treatment is not available in your current location, United Healthcare Global will arrange and pay for a medically supervised evacuation to the nearest medical facility, as determined by United Healthcare Global to be capable of providing appropriate medical treatment. Your medical condition must be such that, in the professional opinion of the healthcare provider and United Healthcare Global, you require immediate emergency medical treatment, without which there would be a significant risk of death or serious impairment.

If the condition is an emergency, you should go immediately to the nearest physician or hospital without delay and then place a collect call to the 24-hour Emergency Response Center in Baltimore, Maryland at +1-410-453-6330. When you call you will be asked to provide your name, organization’s name, and AIARC Group Policy Number 35321.

For outpatient prescription drugs received outside the United States and inpatient drugs received anywhere, claims are reimbursed by Cigna and treated the same as any other Plan expense.

For outpatient prescription drugs received in the United States, you must use a pharmacy in Cigna’s network of U.S. pharmacies. You will be required to present your Cigna ID card to the network pharmacists and pay your copay when obtaining drugs. Your Cigna ID card contains the following information to process your order:

Rx BIN# 017010, Rx Issuer (80840),

and Rx PCN 02160000

If you do not use your card at the time of purchase, you will not receive the full amount of your reimbursement when you submit your claim.

Announcements

Vanbreda International, the medical and drug provider, will be changing its name to Cigna in February 2015 due to Cigna’s purchase of Vanbreda International.

New ID cards will be distributed in April 2015. You can continue to use your old ID card until you receive your new card.

Your ID card contains the contact details so you can contact Cigna anytime anywhere 24 hours 7 days a week. Additionally, the card will allow a hospital to set up a direct payment arrangement with Cigna.

If you are purchasing drug prescriptions in the United States, the new ID card will contain new RX numbers, which you will need to present to the pharmacist. The new numbers - RxBIN 017010 RxPCN 02160000 Issuer (80840) - are already operational, but you will be able to use the old numbers until you receive your new card.

You can now print a copy of your Membership ID card from your personal account on the Cigna website.

You can also print an Insurance Certificate from your personal account on the Cigna website. This certificate is often required in order to travel to other countries.

Please remember that you can minimize your costs for health care by using providers in Cigna’s network of providers (this network includes the former providers in the Vanbreda International network). Cigna has negotiated discounted fees with these providers, which make your portion of costs lower if you use these providers. You can find the network providers using your personal account on the Cigna website.

Welcome to the AIARC Web!

The AIARC web provides information about the various benefits administered by the Association of International Agricultural Research Centers (AIARC) on behalf of its member Centers for their current (active) and former (retired) employees.

AIARC partners with large internationally recognized companies to provide Center employees with a comprehensive benefits package.

Medical and Evacuation

Cigna, based in Antwerp, Belgium, provides services for most medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug claims for the Plan’s participants. Cigna partners with Cigna Healthcare (Cigna) in the United States to provide the Plan’s U.S. Open Access Plan (OAP) network for medical providers and the Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) network for dental providers. Cigna also handles claims for outpatient prescription drugs received in the United States.

Payroll and Benefits

Disclaimer: Information contained in this website and in related materials does not imply or form a contractual arrangement. The website and related material are only intended to provide an AIARC participant with jargon-free general information about the various benefit plans administered by AIARC and does not cover every exception or possibility. Further, the information does not in any way override the plan rules and the policy documents between AIARC and the plan providers, which constitute the legal documents that govern the operation of the various benefit plans. The plan rules and policy documents will prevail in the event of any conflict, as the plan rules and policy documents are controlling. Information contained in this site can change at any time for any reason. Additionally, nothing in this site should be construed as establishing an employer-employee relationship between a participant and AIARC.